Clip or clasp



W. H. STEVENS.

CLIP OR CLASP.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-26,1918.

1,342,698. Patented June 8, 1920.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAMH. STEVENS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CLIP OR CLASP.

Application filed September 36,1918. Serial No. 255,783.

To all whomit may concern:

Be it'known that 1, WILLIAM H. STEVENS, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residingat New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clips or Clasps, of which the following 1s a specificatiom This invention relates to clips or elasps such as are used to hold neckties in positlon, to hold together a number of papers or the like.

One of the objects of the invention is to produce a device of this kind having exceptional gripping or holding qualities, and

made from a single integral piece of material.

Other objects and aims of the invention, more or less broad than those stat ed above, together with the advantages inherent, will be in part obvious and in part specifically.

referred to in the course of the following description of the elements, combinations, arrangements of parts, and apphcations of principles constituting the invent1on;. and the scope of protection contemplated Wlll appear from the claims.

- In the accompanying drawings, which are to be taken as part of thisspecification, and in which I have shown merely a preferred form of embodiment of invention,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a paper clip embodying my'invention showing it as in use; Fig. 2 is an edge View ofthe same; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the clip; Fig. 4 is a .viewin plan and section of the blank from which the article shown in the first three figures is produced; Fig. 5 illustrates an embodiment of my invention'in the form of a necktie clasp, showing it in use; Fig. 6 is an edge view of the clasp shown in Fig. 5 with the parts in normal position; Fig. 7 is a view of the same illustrating the gripping posiform a tongue 12 and this tongue 12 is again tion of the parts; and Fig. 8 is a view of the 5, 6, and 7 is produced.

Referring to the numerals on the draw-' ings and first to Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, there is shown in Fig. 4 a blank of flat resilient material, which may be suitable metal or celluloid or the like. This blank is first cut as indicated by the lines 9, 10 and 11 to slitted as indicated at 14, to define a tongue 15 which however is oppositely directed forward end 22 of the frame.

from the tongue 12 which supports it. This slitting or cutting may be done in any approved way which forms no part of the present invention. After the blank has been thus formed it is subjected to proper manipulation as by means of dies or the like to give it the form shown in Fig. 3. Thus the frame 16 surrounding and supporting the tongue 12 is left generally fiat, except for the parallel bends 17 in the side portions of the frame. The tongue 12 is also bent, the portlon 18 near the root thereof being bent upwardly from the frame, that is to say, in a direction opposite from the bends 17, while beyond the upward bend 18 the tongue inclines downwardly again toward the general plane of the front of the frame as indicated at 19. The secondary tongue or gripping member 15 is bent away from the plane of the tongue 12 and toward the plane of the main frame. The bends 17 being located well toward one end of the frame, if the detween the end 19 of the tongue 12 and the forward end 22 of'the frame, into which space papersor envelope or the like may be inserted. As they are pushed in they meet the frictional resistance caused by the secondary tongue 15 and arealso thereby bent down out of the plane in which they enter between the tongue 12 and the forward end 22 of the frame, all of which makes for a stronger grip, the forward end of the tongue 12 tending downwardly and the forward end of the tongue 15 also tending downwardly, but the end of the tongue 15 occupying the position very much below that of the end of tongue 12. It is of course desirable that the end of the tongue 12 should not at any time extend through the frame between the side pieces thereof and in fact it is preferred that the end of the tongue should bear upon the Obviously, this would not be possible after the bending of the tongue, as indicated at 18, if compensation were not made by shortening up the frame by means of the bends 17.

The position. of the parts when in use is shown in Fig. 2, the papers being indicated Referring to the embodiment shown in Figs: -5 to 8 of the drawings, the blank from which the device is to befashioned is shown in Fig. 8 and comprises a frame with side members 25, a rear end 26 and a forward end 27 surrounding a tongue 28, defined by through cuts or slits as shown. At the 'forward end of this tonguethe 'cut is made like -a saw-tooth, and the subsequent manipulation of the article from the fiat as shown in Fig. 8, the saw-tooth portions at the forward end. of the. tongueand at. the inneredge ofthe frame, indicated at 29, in Fig. 8,

are reversely bent so as to form oppositely directed teeth 30 and 31 onthe end of the tongue and the adjacent edge of the frame respectively. -No material is cut out .or wasted,- but in order to make the tongue more resilient for its gripping function and to shorten its leverage and to faciliato ma,- nipulation, the tongue is bent near its root as indicated at 32. Normally this bond is below the plane of the frame as shown in Fig. 6, as is" indeed thewhole of the tongue.

In use the article is held with the thumb under the bend 32 and with two fingers above, the respective side pieces 25. Presp 80 sure upon the frame and the tongue in'op posite directions brings the parts to the'positionshownin Fig.7, that is with-the gripping end of the tongue above the frame, so

that a necktie or other article to beheld, indicated at 34:, may be slipped in between the frame and the tongue. Release of the pressure will result in the gripping of the article between the oppositely pointed teeth of the tongue end and frame end. I claim:-.

'1. A device of the kind described made of flat. resilient material and comprising a frame with side pieces and end pieces in a common plane and surrounding'an integral tongue, said tongue having a bend near its root upwardly away from the frame and having its free end restingon the adjacent end piece ofthe frame, and the side pieces of the frame having also angle bends out of the general plane of the frame.

2. A device of the kind described made of V frame.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

WILLIAM H. STEVENS. 

